Jalliang, who was from Saribas, had been gutta hunting in Sandakan with three others. On their way back home the group boarded the S.S. Normanby in Singapore and travelled to Kuching, where they arrived on August 22.

On the morning of August 25, at 6:15 a.m., Jalliang left the ship, which was tied up at Soon Seng's landing place, and went to the bazaar, where the Chinese shopkeepers were about to open their stores. Armed with a parang jumpol he first attacked a Chinese cake seller, who died shortly thereafter from a chest wound, and then ran along the street and entered the shops, injuring on his way 15 other Chinese, four of them critically. Eventually the alarm was raised and Jalliang was pursued for a mile by armed civilians and police, who subdued him near the new Chinese burial ground after felling him with stones and sticks. He was taken to prison and after a quick trial, in which he was sentenced to death, was executed on August 30.[2][3]